The Father in the Thin Places

Phillip said to Jesus, “Show us the Father.”

 Haven’t we all been in places in our lives where we have wanted, just once, to see God face to face, to be reassured as Phillip sought to be reassured? We yearn to have that close proximity to God and we find it unexpectedly in so many places and moments of our lives.

For the past few decades, I have returned to the same beach every summer for renewal, for refreshment. Last summer, I we stayed at a different beach, failing to finds the rest we had found so may previous years. We ended up driving over two hours on a rainy day to get to the usual beach. Upon arriving at our destination that dreary muggy day, I took off my shoes and went to stand in the ocean as the rain fell upon my head.  As I stood there and gazed at the storm clouds building over the ocean and felt the tug of the tide on my feet, I was in awe of the wonder of God, of presence of the Divine- the Creator of all things.   

Celtic tradition has a saying that heaven and earth are only three feet apart, but in thin places the distance is even smaller. Our souls yearn for thin places, where the distance between heaven and earth collapses, drawing us closer to the Divine.

If we pause and give it some thought, we can each probably name thin places in our lives. Some have told me of the presence of God on a mountain top, of God’s closeness in the depths of the Grand Canyon.  Mother Teresa found her thin places in the dirty, disease- filled poverty-ridden streets of Calcutta. Many a youth has told me of the sense of peace and renewal that can be found at Cathedral Domain. Indeed, it is the place to where I retreat when I feel the world in which we live becoming oppressive. We sense the presence of Christ during the Holy Eucharist, at the Wednesday Healing Service and listening to a beautiful hymn or prelude. Friends who have traveled to Ireland or to the Holy Land, tell of thin places they found during their journeys. Often a thin place is a point in time- the birth of a newborn, the baptism of a child, the time when two individuals join together in Holy matrimony, the simple presence of another soul with whom ours are entwined, the presence with a dear one whose life is passing.  

Psalm 42 reminds us, “As a dear yearns for the flowing streams, so my soul longs for You, O God.” All of us yearn for a glimpse of the Divine, for the sense of the very presence of God with us. It is an innate yearning within us, which draws us back to the Father, to be one with Christ.  As we enter into summer, may we all find refreshment and God’s palpable presence in the thin places in our lives. As for me, I am looking forward to my time at the usual beach where the creatures of the sea and the creatures of the land and air remind me of the awesome majesty of Creation and where God is but a prayer away. Amen.